Almost
by creepingstar
Summary: What happens when a bomb goes off on unsettled grounds. Heavy Sheyla
1. Chapter 1

Almost

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard awoke to an insistent noise coming from his quarters' door. With a groan he rolled of the bed, snatched a pair of his usual uniform bottoms and put them over his boxers and went to the door. As soon as he opened it, a very noisy but happy McKay walked in.

"Come on sleepyhead, Elizabeth approved the mission. Oh and Colonel? Put some clothes on your skinny butt!!"

"Yeah yeah. I'll be ready in 10 minutes. Now shoo!!" After McKay was gone, he grabbed a shower then changed into his uniform. About 15 minutes later, he walked into the briefing room. As he entered, faces turned to him.

"Sorry I'm late." He said sheepishly.

"Very well. As I was saying, the planet , according to Major Lorne, isn't very hostile." Weir carried on. "Not many villagers are dangerous but there is a civil war going on and I suggest that you don't get involved with it. Not even if your lives are threatened. We can't risk a war considering we have wraith hive ships on the way." Weir stopped talking and looked at Sheppard.

"What? I won't get involved unless they attack me!" John exclaimed back knowing what she would say.

"I wasn't going to say anything about that. Are you sure Beckett allowed you to go back to active duty?" A couple of weeks ago, Sheppard was the victim of some people whose planet was at war with each other. Of course Sheppard got injured when he tried to break the two people up. The damage caused was a stab wound to his side.

"Yeah, it wasn't even that deep." He defended.

"You were stabbed! I swear if you come back injured after splitting some people up, I will kill you myself!!" She joked.

"Erm…Ok. I won't stop anyone from killing themselves." He replied. When the conversation was over, Weir cleared them to go but to be safe. John got up but winced when the stitches in his side pulled. He closed his eyes at the slight pain and nausea. Suddenly he felt a cool hand on his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes and looked into Teyla's.

"I'm ok. Just got up too fast". He smiled at her raised eyebrow. "Honestly, I'm fine". She backed away.

"Ok, but I do not believe you should go on this mission. Myself, Ronon and Rodney can handle this." As soon as she finished talking, John shook his messy head.

"No, I'm fine. And as I said, I just stood up too quickly" He tried his most charming smile and this time it worked. It surprised him how his smile seemed to make Teyla back off. Not that he wanted her to back off. He always seemed to like her ways and when she gets confused and looks towards him to explain him what the meaning of the thing that makes her confused, he loves it. He loves it when she always takes care of him when he gets stunned.

"Ok, but don't try and wean yourself out of the next time you do this" She smiled that adorable smile of hers.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

Jumper Bay

"We all ready?" Sheppard asked his team. He received affirmative nods before he contacted the control room confirming them that they're ready to leave. As usual, Weir's good luck was heard and, as usual, Ronon just grunted and the rest just said thanks.

Half an hour later, they were standing outside some ruins that McKay wanted to check out. Sheppard just secured the perimeter and, after that was done, started kicking stones at McKay. Soon, Ronon joined in, but his kicks were harder than Sheppard's and you usually heard loud cursing from when it struck him on the head. This time Ronon kicked it, it hit McKay's butt and a snicker couldn't be kept in. The snicker then became a howling laugh when McKay rubbed his rear end. Nearby, Teyla watched the commotion, and even she started laughing. Ronon was just grunting but a slight smirk could be recognised.

"Oww!! Is this pick on McKay day or something?! Don't you have anything else better to do than bug the hell out of me?" Rodney's face had turned a purple colour,

"McKay…breathe. That's it buddy. Now, we are bored, so can we go now or else I'll miss the foot…" Sheppard stopped in the middle of the sentence when a whistling sound could be heard. Ronon and Teyla also heard this but McKay was oblivious to the noise.

"Yeah well you could at least shut up and let me do my job!…" McKay shouted back. As the others were listening to what the noise was, McKay just sat there and mumbled.

"McKay.."

More mumbling.

"McKay…"

More mumbling.

"Oh for God's sake…MCKAY!!!"

That got his attention.

"WHAT!"

"Will you shut up for a moment!" That was Ronon. He was a man of little words, but when he spoke, it was shocking.

"Oh, I, erm…suppose so…"McKay shut up.

At that time, the whistling noise became louder. He was just about to talk to McKay when he realised what it was.

"BOMB!!! GET DOWN!" He threw himself over Teyla as she was closer. The impact of their bodies on the floor was like a bullet being torn through his shoulder. It was then he noticed he dislocated his shoulder and possibly ripped side . He notice Ronon had done the same for McKay. They didn't seem injured. He felt Teyla start moving beneath him and winced in pain when her movements jarred his shoulder. As if sensing his injury, she stopped. The bomb could be heard ticking down. It was a mere minute when it exploded. He was aware of himself and Teyla being thrown through the sky and landing on the gravel. The impact sent his head crashing into the earth. He could see Ronon and McKay lying on the grass next to them with their eyes concentrated on the hole that was forming beneath them. He was aware of Teyla talking to him but his eyes closed. She patted his face to keep him awake, but the earth beneath them had started to give way to reveal a mine or something along those lines. Just as darkness was surrounding him he heard his name being called before he blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Almost**

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

"BOMB!!! GET DOWN!"

Teyla was shocked to be tackled by the colonel, but then most things shocked her when it came to John Sheppard. She could hear a pop when they landed on the floor. The floor began to crumble beneath them and, to the right, she saw Rodney and Ronon lying just like they were but they seemed unharmed. It was the colonel she was concerned about as the pop she heard was his shoulder. From what she could tell, it was dislocated. She started moving but at John's hiss of pain, stopped. She did not want to cause any further harm. As John froze, she understood why he did. The bomb was still ticking. The world exploded and she felt herself and the colonel being thrown across the path into the gravel. She felt, rather than heard, John's head hit the ground. She looked at John, whose eyes were now closed. She patted his cheek until he slowly opened his eyes. His eyes showed pain and fear. She moved a bit to move her head and saw Ronon and Rodney fine a few metres away from them. Her movement caused the earth beneath them to open up into a cavern of something. They fell and fell until everything faded into black.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that her head hurt. She closed her eyes to stop the pain. The colonel!! She opened them again to find herself looking into Ronon's eyes. He did not look injured. As if sensing her thoughts, he answered.

"Are you injured?" His concern showed through his words and not his expression.

"I am fine" she lied "It is the colonel I am worried about." She pointed to John's unconscious body beneath her. Ronon just smirked. He knew about her feelings towards John as they were both aliens to John's people but John had accepted them into his warm embrace like they truly belonged. She glared angrily at him.

"He hit his head when the bomb exploded and dislocated his left shoulder when tackling me to the ground" She explained more to herself that Ronon "How is Dr McKay?"

"He's knocked out. Took a little tackle by me and smacked his head" He smirked. Then he turned serious. "Can you stand?" At her nod, he helped her up. He glanced at her when she wobbled but then looked back at Sheppard. He looked pale. Blood gleamed from his mouth which made the Satedan warrior worried. Blood coming from the mouth meant one thing. He crouched down to look at the colonel closer. It was then he noticed the blood was from his tongue. Sighing with relief, he began checking the colonels other injuries. Teyla was right about the dislocated shoulder. He would have to pop the joint back in place when Sheppard was awake. There was a bruise forming on his temple and blood dripped slowly from a cut next to it. There was blood appearing from under the colonels side from where he got stabbed a few weeks before. Slowly peeling his black t-shirt apart, he looked at Beckett's handiwork, and also the blood seeping through the stitches. He sighed. He was aware of Teyla crouching beside him to stroke Sheppard's fevered brow. He knew her feelings towards the colonel were not one-sided.

"He needs medical help" He stated.

"Yes, I agree." She dug around in her vest pockets until she found bandages. When she started applying the bandages to his side, he started stirring.

"Te..yla?…" It was just barely a whisper but it gave her relief that he was awake.

"John, try not to move. You hit your head and dislocated your shoulder." She tried to soothe him.

"Damn…thought that hurt." He started slurring his words a little. His eyes were unfocused as he tried to look around. A concussion. Sheppard started to look around when his eyes focused properly. The action caused him to groan as nausea decided to rear it's ugly head. Also, with Teyla bandaging his wounds, only caused his nausea to increase double time.

"Teyla…stop…" He tried to stop her but she chose to ignore him and continued her job.

"Teyla…" He tried again. His nausea was becoming unbearable. Somehow the Satedan managed to read his mind as, just before he started bringing up what was left in his stomach, moved Teyla swiftly to the side and reached him to help him roll onto his side. The retching that followed was enough to make the pounding in his head to increase which also made the nausea worse. Also, the pain from his shoulder and head also combined with blood loss and possibly broken ribs joined in with the fun of torturing him. After the retching subsided, he began to feel really weak. Maybe the blood loss combined with pain made him feel like crap.

Teyla stood watching John bringing up his stomach contents and worried that her bandaging the wounds was what caused it. After a few minutes of retching, his head rolled back onto the floor. He opened his mouth to say something but the pain lulled him back into unconsciousness. She quickly ran to him but Ronon stopped her.

"Let him rest." Was all he said. She nodded her head. Instead of checking on John, she went over to Rodney. He was breathing. With a breath that was hold let go, she began checking Rodney for obvious injuries. He had a bump on his head and a cut on his neck, but other than that, he seemed uninjured. She started to pat his cheek. He stirred a few times before not responding.

"Here let me." Ronon said just before he hit Rodney, hard, on the face. The response was almost as if he sensed it before it had an impact.

"Ow!! Did ya have to hit me?!" Rodney complained. He started to look around the room until his eyes focused on a limp form. A choruses of "Oh no's" came out of his mouth whilst trying to scurry over the Sheppard's body.

"Colonel?" No response. He tried again. "Sheppard?" This time he got a response. A weak fluttering under his eyelids told them that he was conscious again.

"Whe…" He tried again "Where are we?" Even though his voice was weak, it sounded lucid enough to answer that question. As Rodney was about to begin one of his snarky comments, Teyla butted in.

"I believe we fell underground due to the bomb that went off. It seemed it detected our presence" She tried to explain.

"Yes, yes. It could of detected mine or Sheppard's presence as we have…"

"The Ancient gene." Sheppard and McKay said at the same time even though Sheppard's answer was really quiet. Sheppard seemed to have more strength back.

"Ronon…help me up" Sheppard told Ronon.

"John…You must not move. You could have internal damage." Teyla tried to reason with him.

"Yes but we need everyone looking for a way up or out. Or else we will be stuck here for a long time." Everyone was quiet after this comment, so Sheppard tried again, "Ronon, help me up and don't make me make it an order" That stopped everyone from arguing and Ronon helped him up causing a slight grimace. After Sheppard was all the way up, he started swaying, causing Teyla to take over from Ronon in holding him up.

"Thanks." He said, earning a stern look teamed up with a smile. He tried to smile back but the pain did nothing for him. He was still holding his arm to his side which reminded him.

"Ronon. We need to set my shoulder back in place." At his nod, he was told to sit down.

"Ok…Ready?" At Sheppard's nod, he pulled until the joint was put back in place. Sheppard's grunts and curses filled the chasm making Ronon himself flinch. After they made a makeshift sling out of bandages, Sheppard was looking very pale again and in more pain than before. Maybe if he slipped something into his drink…

"Anyone got any water?" Teyla passed Ronon her flask whilst he took out some pills. Teyla saw that and went over to Sheppard to distract him whilst he put them in the water. He let them dissolve before heading over to Sheppard and crouching down to give him some water. He watched him drink the water and the pills and grinned to himself, then he thought Sheppard will kill him if he found out. As he watched him drift off, he saw realisation draw on the injured mans face and frowned just before he fell asleep.

"Do you think it was wise to do that?" Teyla asked.

"He needs rest. If he walks around with broken ribs, internal bleeding and whatever else, he will have less time just like on that mission he told me about with the Iratus bug." He had a good reason there.

"Ok. How do we get out of this?" Everyone looked the McKay when he said it.

"You tell us. Your always bragging about how smart you are" Teyla smirked at that comment.

"Ok, ok. Erm…If we carry up that ledge there, we might be able to get to the top. Trouble is, how are we going to get Sheppard up there whilst he's unconscious now because of someone!" He was fuming.

"I'll carry him. He's not that heavy compared to you McKay." He grinned

"Oh! Fine! You carry him. Just don't blame me if you fall!" He grumbled the last remark under his breath.

As Ronon leaned over the injured man's body, he felt heat coming from him. Damn, he thought, infection. He picked Sheppard up and began to trek along to the ledge McKay was on about.

"Come on you two. Sheppard's warming up. An infection in his side." The last words said made them two hurry up.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

About half an hour later, they reached the top and walked to where the jumper was cloaked. After deactivating it, Rodney walked up to the pilot's seat where he knew Sheppard would kill him if he found out about this. After Ronon seated, and Teyla looking after Sheppard, he started dialling the 'gate. After less than a minute, the wormhole opened.

"Atlantis, this is McKay. We need a medical team standing by." Weir's voice came back

"Ok Rodney, come on home. And it seems as if the colonel did something this time again if your flying the jumper."

"We'll debrief once we're home. Rodney out." He flew the jumper through the gate and received a welcome back from Elizabeth before the jumper went to the jumper bay. Carson Beckett's team were standing by. But when they saw the limp body he tutted and started ordering his team to do this and that before they even had a minute to assess the colonels condition. As they wheeled him away, he told everyone that he was in good hands and ran off to do his magic. The team stayed behind until Beckett came back and told, well ordered, them to the infirmary for their post mission checks. Slowly they followed but they only took a few steps when Teyla suddenly collapsed. Ronon and McKay turned round and saw Teyla on the floor. They ran to her and felt for a pulse. It was there but only barely. Without saying a word, the former Runner ran off to the infirmary who was quickly followed by McKay.

Back in the infirmary, Sheppard's heart stopped beating and, as soon as Ronon entered with Teyla in his arms, she stopped breathing. Everyone was confused until Ronon yelled at someone to treat Teyla and whilst they were doing that, he looked at Beckett whom seemed confused that two people just stopped breathing at the same time. His confusion was quickly his when he started CPR on the colonel. He then started using the defibrillator. Sheppard's body arched off the gurney when the electricity ran through him. They kept this up until they managed to get his heart going. Beckett ran through instructions to put the colonel on the ventilator as well as Teyla as she was unresponsive. Ronon and McKay just stood there rooted to the spot of what they had just witnessed.


End file.
